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dOMMA^DEI^y OF THE Dl^Tl^ldT OF COLUMBIA. 



WAR PAPERS. 



74 



DYtajor=(a:2n.eral ""Urilliam, Starke I^^osecrans, 
V. 5. ^rmy. 

prepared by companion 
Lieutenant-Colonel 

GILBERT C. KNIFFIN, 

U. S. Volunteers, 

AND 
READ AT THE STATED MEETING OF NOVEMBER 4, 1908. 



RiKio 






\ 
1 



; ila;nr-(intpral William i'tarli^ ISoHprrans. 

\o 1. i>. Armg. 



The mention of the name of Rosecrans never fails to fill me 
with recollections of his heroic service. From the dawn of 
the Rebellion until the shades of night closed upon its bier, 
the Ufe of this superb soldier was devoted to the service of his 
country. The most skilful strategist that the war produced, 
the hardest and most persistent fighter, a strict disciplina- 
rian, a thorough soldier, it was the fate of Major-General 
William S. Rosecrans to carve the way for others to march 
to glory, to sow the seed while others reaped the harvest of 
his victories. 

The echo of his rifles at Rich Mountain in 1861 had scarcely 
ceased to reverberate among the hills of western Virginia, when 
his superior in command, who had no part in the battle, was 
selected to command the armies of the United States. It was 
his victory over Van Dorn at Corinth in October, 1862, which 
restored the waning confidence of the Government in its 
Department Commander, and at last when the magnificent 
Army of the Cumberland reorganized, and thrice led to vic- 
tory at Stone's River, Tullahoma, and the capture of Chat- 
tanooga in 1863, by General Rosecrans, the chaplet was torn 
from his brow by the envy and jealousy of rivals, and placed 
upon the head of the heroic Thomas. But there was no jeal- 
ousy between these two great men. The lofty patriotism that 
inspired each found expression in the confidence reposed in the 
other. With entire confidence in the nobility of his character 
I asked General Rosecrans in one of the confidential conver- 



sations tliat we frequently held while he was Member of Congress 
and later Register of the Treasury, how it affected him to hear 
General Thomas referred to as the "Rock of Chickamauga." 

"Of course he was the Rock," he exclaimed, "he was my 
rock, and he would not have been intrusted with the command 
of my army on the field after my return to Chattanooga, if he 
had not been a rock, and a solid rock at that." 

And so with Thomas. At the organization of the vSociety 
of the Army of the Cumberland at the Burnett House in 
Cincinnati, in 1866, referring to the battle of Chickamauga, 
General Thomas said : 

"Chickamauga! A battle in which I received great credit 
at the expense of a better soldier. General Rosecrans." 

That is the way in which these great-hearted generals referred 
to each other, and that is why I to-night can give my meed 
of praise to one without abating one jot or tittle of my loyalty 
to the other. 

You who knew him as he lived among us in his old age, can 
form little idea of the man of forty years as he appeared upon 
the field of battle, mounted upon his favorite roan horse, 
"Traveler," who spurned all obstacles. The general appeared 
the impersonation of war. Of splendid physique and untiring 
energy, he possessed that cool, unfaltering courage which 
finds its best expression upon the battlefield. 

To see him in battle was a military education; to follow 
him, to win his approbation, men gave their lives. His face 
shone with the inspiration of the grand occasion. To plant 
a battery where its fire would be most effective, to hurl a 
brigade with the impetuosity of a limited express train upon 
an advancing line of the enemy, and above all to stand with 
no thought of yielding a strong position, while his clarion voice, 
rising above the full orchestra of battle, cheered the men whose 



courage his example inspired. And so men followed where 
he led with the light of battle on their faces, wrenching victory 
from the jaws of defeat, while billowing the ground over which 
they fought with the forms of their fallen comrades. 

The Rosecrans name is one closely allied to American mili- 
tary history, no less than five of the family having served as 
commissioned officers in the continental army and militia 
during the revolutionary war. The root of the family tree 
in this country was planted on the Hudson River by one of 
the Knickerbockers early in the last century. 

Dr. Daniel Rosencrans, born in Dutchess County, N. Y., 
emigrated to Wyoming Valley, Pa., where in 1782 he married 
Miss Thankful Wilcox. In 1808 he headed an emigration 
to the far west. The colony planted itself in Delaware County, 
Ohio, and from these pioneers sprang the Rosecrans, Taylors, 
Armstrongs, Van Sickles, Starkes, and other prominent fami- 
lies in that State. Crandall Rosecrans, eldest son of Dr. 
Rosecrans, adjutant of the light horse battalion which served 
under General Harrison in the war of 181 2, was a successful 
farmer and manufacturer of Delaware County, held in high 
esteem by his neighbors as a man of undoubted courage and 
stern, unflinching integrity. His wife was Miss Hopkins, 
daughter of a lieutenant in the Continental Army. His mother 
was one of the two adults who escaped the massacre at Wyo- 
ming. Warned by the wife of one of the Tory conspirators, 
she fled from her home with her two infant children, and 
traveled on foot sixty miles through the wilderness to Easton, 
Pa. The Hopkins family were of Connecticut extraction, 
tracing their descent from Stephen Hopkins, who came over 
in the Mayflower. 

WilHam Starke Rosecrans, the eldest son of Crandall Rose- 
crans, was born in Berkshire, Delaware County, on the 6th 



of vScpteinl)cr, 1819. Mis boyhood was spent in his native 
place, where he gave early promise of future usefulness. 

Reared in a healthful moral atmosphere, at a period when 
the lore of the fireside i)arto()k largely of the then recent struggle 
of the pioneers to establish themselves in their new homes, 
and endowed with strong health and great physical courage, 
it is not surprising that the ambition to rise above his sur- 
roundings seized upon him at an early age. 

Deeds of prowess in the Indian wars were fresh in the 
memory of men still living. The story of his grandmother's 
escape from the horrors of savage barbarity at Wyoming, 
and of atrocities committed along the frontier, fired the heart 
of the future general to emulate the heroism and win the glory 
of a miUtary chieftain. 

At sixteen years of age, a position was tendered him by 
Mr. George B. Arnold, a merchant of Utica, Ohio, which he 
accepted, and for one year applied himself to mastering the 
details of business. While here, he was studious and an 
eager devourer of books, those relating to history especially; 
and, thenceforward, to obtain a miUtary education became 
the absorbing desire of his Hfe. With the habit of going 
straight to the point which has always been one of his chief 
characteristics, he addressed a letter to his father's old friend. 
Gen. Lewis Cass, stating his desires, and asked for the terms 
and qualifications required, and means of gaining admission 
to the Military Academy at West Point. The general sent 
him the required information, and finding that the appUcant 
was a son of Crandall Rosecrans, procured for him an appoint- 
ment, which reached him before he had mailed his application 
in regular form, accompanied by a long list of recommenda- 
tions. In July, iS^S, at the age of eighteen, he entered the 
Academy, which for four years was to witness his triumphs 



and defeats in the rigorous schooling given by the nation to 
its embryo soldiers. General Rosecrans is described by his 
associates at West Point as a sturdy, energetic young man, 
fond of athletic sport and not averse to hard knocks when 
occasion demanded. In many regards the boy gave promise 
of the man. He was truthful, courageous, studious, fond of 
going to the root of questions, and working upward ; scorning 
imposture, and not afraid to acknowledge his ignorance of a 
subject, if thereby he could obtain Hght upon it. 

The class that was graduated at the Military Academy in 
1842 contains the names of many prominent officers in the 
Union and Confederate armies. vSecond on the list is the 
name of John Newton, followed by William S. Rosecrans, 
Seth Williams, John Pope, Abner Doubleday, Napoleon J. T. 
Dana, and George vSykes, all of whom became major-generals 
of volunteers twenty years later. 

Intermingled with these— friends then, as now, for noblesse 
oblige, these "West Pointers" stick pretty closely together 
when the demands of duty do not require them to shoot at each 
other— are such napies as James Longstreet, Earl Van Dorn, 
Lafayette McUws, Daniel H. Hill, Martin L. Smith, Alexander 
P. Stewart, and Gustavus W. Smith, who attained equal rank 
in the army of the Confederate States. 

Rosecrans was graduated July 18, 1842, and breveted second 
lieutenant in the Corps of Engineers, the ehte of the army, 
third in mathematics and fifth in general merit, in a class of 
fifty-six. 

Lieutenant Rosecrans had no sooner received liis brevet ap- 
pointment, than he was sent to Fortress Monroe, to win his rank 
under the veteran De Russy, where, after remaining one year, 
he was returned to his alma mater as assistant professor of 
engineering. 



8 

It was while a professor at West Point that he met with 
success in winning the heart and hand of Miss Anna E. Hegeman, 
only daughter of Adrian Hegeman. Esq., a well-known lawyer 
of New York City. They were married August 21, 1843. The 
domestic relations of the general, owing to the amiable quaUties 
of his estimable wife, who died on Christmas morning, 1883, 
were more than usually happy. Their union was blest by the 
birth of seven children, two only of whom are living, Lillie, the 
wife of Governor Toole, of Montana, and Carl, of Tos Angeles, 
California. 

The next four years were spent at West Point, where he filled 
successively the chairs of engineering, natural philosophy, and 
finally of practical engineering. He was sent in 1847 to New- 
port, R. I. where he took charge of the fortifications and the 
construction of a large and permanent wharf, and thence in 1852 
to New Bedford and Providence, where he took charge of the 
surveys of harbors at those points, and the Taunton River. The 
following year, in response to a request from the Secretary of the 
Navy for a competent engineer. Lieutenant Rosecrans was 
selected by the Secretary of War and assigned to duty at Wash- 
ington Navy Yard, where he planned the immense shops now 
in use at that place for forging heavy work. 

At the age of thirty-four, when near the head of his profession. 
Lieutenant Rosecrans decided to resign from the army, where 
he had served eleven years without having reached the dignity 
of a captain's commission, and seek employment in his pro- 
fession in civil life. Jefferson Davis, then Secretary of War, 
expressed great reluctance to accept his resignation, being 
unwilling to lose so valuable an officer from the service, offering 
him, instead, six months' leave of absence in which to determine 
whether he preferred civil to military engineering. In April, 
1854, his determination remaining unchanged, his resignation 



was accepted, greatly to the regret of General Totten. Chief of 
Engineers, who expressed in his endorsement upon the resigna- 
tion, his "regret that the country was about to lose the services 
of so able and valuable an officer." 

The call of the Government for troops with which to crush a 
rebellion in the cotton States, brought him to the front as a 
soldier fully equipped by education and practice to take his 
place among the successful generals of the age. From the 
moment that war was declared inevitable, Rosecrans gave no 
thought to any business but that of his country. 

On the 1 6th of May, 1861, he was commissioned colonel of the 
23d Ohio Volunteers, and four days later his commission as 
brigadier-general reached him while actively engaged in assisting 
Governor Dennison in securing clothing and equipment for the 
troops then being mustered into service. 

The First Brigade, commanded by General Rosecrans, was 
composed of the 17th and 19th Ohio and the Sthand'ioth 
Indiana Infantry. A soldier of one of these regiments writes 
from the field of operations in West Virginia: 

"Our general is an incessant worker. He is in the saddle 
almost constantly. He has not had a full night's sleep since he 
has been in Virginia, and he takes his meals as often on horseback 
as at the table. His geniahty and affability endear him to all 
who come in contact with him." 

Within two weeks after he assumed command of these troops, 
they had fought the battle of Rich Mountain under his leader- 
ship, which decided the first campaign of the war. 

This engagement, like that of Mill Springs fought by General 
Thomas in Kentucky, though small as regards the numbers 
engaged as compared with those which this commander was 
destined later to plan and execute, was far-reaching in its results. 
A strong and confident foe held position in the mountains of 



lO 

Wfslcni \'ir,c:itiia. They were within their own territory, 
where ever\- road and nioiuilain footpath was faniihar to them. 

On the first of Augnst President JelT. Davis wrote to Gen. 
Joseph K. Johnston: 

"General Lee has gone to Western Virginia, and I liope may 
be able to strike a deeisive blow at the enemy in that qnartcr; 
or, failing in that, will be able to organize and post our troops 
so as to check the enemy, after wdiich he will return to this 
place." 

Pitted for six months against the future commander of the 
Confederate Army, Cxeneral Rosecrans not only held his position 
against "a decisive blow," but within three months had placed 
it beyond the power of General Lee to adopt the remaining 
alternative of "posting his troops so as to check the enemy." 

"Disaster have come, and disasters are coming," wrote 
Henry A. Wise to General Lee, after Carnifex Ferry, "which 
vou alone, I fear, can repair and prevent." 

When in January, 1862, General Lee was recalled to the 
armv of Northern Virginia, the Confederates retired, leaving 
West Virginia to be incorporated into the Union as a sov- 
ereign State. 

General Rosecrans, having rid West \'irginia of hostile forces, 
was succeeded by P'remont, and in May, 1862, ordered to 
report to General Halleck before Corinth. Ik-ing assigned 
to the Army of the Mississippi, General Pope gave him command 
of one half his army, where he remained until that oflicer was 
transferred to his "headquarters in the saddle" in A'irginia, 
when he assumed command of the army. General Halleck 
having been called to Washington, the command of the anuics 
of the Tennessee and the Missis.sippi — now incorporated 
into one — fell to Crcneral Grant. 

The greater part of the Confederate Army moved away from 



his front and concentrated at Chattanooga, for a movement 
under Bragg, in conjunction with Gen. E. Kirby Smith, into 
Kentucky. Having succeeded in reaching the center of that 
State by flanking Buell's army. General Bragg at once ordered 
co-operation from Generals Price and Van Dorn, then in occu- 
pation of central Mississippi. 

General Bragg was so far misinformed as to the movements 
of Grant's forces as to believe that Rosecrans, who had, in 
obedience to Halleck's order, detached two divisions to Buell's 
assistance, was himself at Nashville with his entire force, leaving 
the way open for Price to march through middle Tennessee, and 
join him in Kentucky. General Price, though better informed, 
resolved to attempt the movement bv flanking Rosecrans at 
Corinth, and by a rapid march, crossing the river north of 
luka, place several days' march between himself and pursuit. 
The movement was regarded as entirely feasible by both 
Price and Van Dorn as, in case Rosecrans followed Price, he 
would leave the coveted prize of Corinth undefended, and should 
Grant attempt to intercept him he could move by way of 
Chattanooga. Simultaneously with information of Price's 
movement came a rumor that Van Dorn was advancing upon 
Corinth. By rapid movements there would be time to over- 
whelm Price before Van Dorn's arrival before Corinth, and by 
Rosecrans' advice. General Ord's division marched eastward 
from Corinth to attack Price at luka, while Rosecrans was to 
cut off" his line of retreat. Price passed through Jacinto on 
the loth of vSeptember and captured luka, delayhig to fill his 
supply trains from the captured stores. 

General Grant reached a point seven and a half miles west 
of luka, with Ord's, Ross' and McKean's divisions of six 
thousand men on the i8th, at which time Rosecrans' advance 
was at Jacinto, from which place he despatched a courier in- 



12 

forming Grant of his position, saying that he should march 
the next morning at five o'clock and hoped to reach luka at 
not later than four P. M. 

Within ten minutes of the time specified, Rosecrans, with 
Stanley's and Hamilton's divisions, encountered the enemy's 
pickets, drove them in, and Price opened upon him at once 
with grape and canister. 

The battle was on, but where was Ord? He was in position 
early, awaiting the order to attack, but received an order 
instead to move up to within four miles, and await the sound 
of Rosecrans' guns. The latter, listening anxiously for sup- 
port from Ord, saw the Confederate troops advancing from 
that direction to support the already overwhelming forces 
in front. Price had become aware of what he termed in his 
report "the overwhelming odds against him," and determined 
to crush the force in his rear before that on his right could join it. 

The battle raged till night between these two forces without 
a gun having been fired from Ord's column. With desperate 
determination, Price hurled his strongest brigades upon Rose- 
crans' right, only to find them repulsed with heavy loss. Mass- 
ing another and heavier column, he repeated the assault, 
but in vain. The Confederates wavered and fell back, just 
at the moment that the exultant Union troops found that 
their last cartridge was expended. During the fight Rosecrans 
was ubiquitous, exposing his life as freely as any of his soldiers. 
Mounted upon a white horse he was seen dashing from right 
to left, wherever his presence was needed to form a column 
or improvise a means of defense. Under cover of darkness 
Price moved out of the town and took up his line of "march 
southward to join Van Dorn in an attack upon Corinth. 

General Van Dorn had commanded the corps on Beaure- 
gard's right at the siege of Corinth and was bitterly opposed 



13 

to evacuating the city without a fight. Left in command of 
the troops in Mississippi by General Bragg, he had used every 
effort to organize a force with which to recapture that impor- 
tant point. He had obtained maps of the country surrounding 
it, and on the return of Price from luka was overjoyed to 
receive from him a topographical map, made by a United 
States engineer, containing a detailed description of the country, 
with the location of every road and water-course in North 
Mississippi. 

Van Dorn's plan of attack depended for its success upon 
taking Rosecrans by surprise. To this end he moved from 
Holly Springs to Ripley, where he was joined by Price, and 
thence by rapid marches in the direction of BoHvar, near which 
place the main body of Grant's army was concentrated, leav- 
ing Corinth to the right. To more successfully deceive his 
enemy, he caused his men to work all night upon a bridge over 
which his army must pass on its way to BoUvar. 

Meantime, Rosecrans had returned to Corinth and resumed 
work upon an inner line of intrenchments, mounting artillery, 
keeping his cavalry out on every road upon which the enemy 
could advance upon him. On the 2d of October his vigilance 
was rewarded by the discovery of Van Dorn's column moving 
on the Bolivar road. His first thought was that a good oppor- 
tunity would be afforded to him to fall upon the enemy's rear 
while he was engaged with the troops at that point, but his 
efforts to place Corinth in a condition to resist attack were 
not relaxed. His force consisted of four divisions of infantry 
and artillery, under command of Generals Stanley, Hamilton, 
McKean and Davies, 20,384 strong, and 2,300 cavalry under 
Colonel Mizner. His information of the strength of the com- 
bined armies of Van Dorn and Price led him to believe that it 
was not less than 35,000, an opinion in which he afterwards 



H 

felt himself sustained by the fact that he captured prisoners 
from fifty-three regiments of infantry, eighteen of cavalry, 
and sixteen batteries. 

In his rei)ort Van Dorn places the entire strength of his 
command at 22,000. Price's corps consisted of two divisions, 
seven brigades, under command of Generals Hebert and Maury ; 
Van Horn's of one division. General Lo veil's of three brigades, 
commanded by Generals Rust, Villi pi gue and Bowen. It will 
be observed that, provided Van Dorn's estimate is correct, the 
contending forces were nearly equal in numerical strength. 

Disposing his command so as best to meet the enemy should 
he advance direct or attempt a flank movement, Rosecrans 
enjoined upon all the utmost vigilance, and calmly awaited 
the approach of the enemy. 

The march northward, from Ripley to Pocahontas, was a 
feint upon Bolivar. On the morning of the 3d of October 
Van Dorn turned sharply to the east from the latter place, and 
marched straight upon Corinth. He had fatigued his troops 
to no purpose, for his watchful antagonist was fully apprised 
of his coming, and ready to meet him. 

Van Dorn's army came within reach of the Union pickets 
by nine o'clock A. M., but lost much time in forming line of 
battle, so that it was near noon when Davies, who was in ad- 
vance, felt himself so pressed as to call for reinforcements. 
But it was no part of General Rosecrans' plan to fight at the 
outer works. Hisorders, however, were "to hold positions pretty 
firmly, to develop the enemy's force." Davies fell back, and 
Lovell pressed forward, when Price found his left flank attacked 
so vigorously as to prevent co-operation, and the Confederates 
contented themselves for the day with the capture of the outer 
line of works. 

Charges were subsequently preferred against General Van 



15 

Dorn for his management of this campaign, by General Bowen, 
one of the spccilications of which was that he did not press 
forward into Corinth on the evening of the 3d, Bowen claiming 
that Rosecrans received heavy reinforcements during the 
night. The battle was fought throughout by the troops 
already enumerated. 

The night was spent by both commanders in forming their 
lines — the one for attack, the other for defense. Van Dorn 
formed a heavy column for attack upon the center, while 
Rosecrans formed his lines upon his batteries so as to bring 
Van Dorn's next attack within converging artillery fire. With 
his matchless capacity for hard work, he felt no fatigue. He 
sent for his division commanders and gave explicit instructions 
to each, and going out among the camps he encouraged the boys 
by quoting Barkis. 

"Things is workin'," said he. 

Before dayhght he was informed that the enemy was planting 
a battery not over six hundred yards from Battery Robinett. 
"Let them plant it," said the General. "It will be a used-up 
battery when our guns open," a prediction that was verified 
about daylight. 

The magnificent charge of Price's cor])S at Corinth on the 
4th of October has become historic. It compares with that 
of Breckenridge at vStone's River, Thomas at Mission Ridge, 
or Hood at Atlanta. 

Sweeping forward in irresistible force, leaving its dead and 
wounded upon the ground like grain behind a reaper, its ragged 
front dashed down into the center of the town. vStormed at 
with shot and shell and a torrent of minie balls, it halted only 
inside of the fort, where, cowering under the guns from the 
storm of cannon shot and musketry rained upon it from the 
rear of the fort, it clung with desperate eagerness to turn them 
upon the Union forces. 



i6 

There are times in every hard-fought battle, when the ex- 
ample of the general is worth a whole division of fresh troops. 
It was so here. It lives in the memory of every soldier who 
fought that day, how the magnificent form of Rosecrans was 
seen in the thickest of the fight, rallying his men by his splendid 
example until the charge was repulsed, and the torn and 
bleeding columns of the Confederates retired from the field. 

It was a glorious victory. A strong and confident enemy 
had been defeated on a fair field, for after they had gained 
position in the town the fighting was hand to hand. General 
Rosecrans gave his exhausted troops a few hours in which to 
prepare supper and take much-needed rest, then ordered pur- 
suit. General McPherson arriving, with his brigade, just as 
the column was forming, was given the advance, and came 
up with the enemy at the Hatchie Bridge, when, after a brisk 
skirmish with the rear- guard, the Confederates were driven 
in a disordered mass toward Holly Springs. Now was the 
opportunity to capture Vicksburg from the rear, and Rosecrans 
knew it. He knew then by the instinct of a soldier what Con- 
federate records have since revealed, that Van Dorn's army 
comprised all the available troops in his department, and that, 
demoralized as they were by defeat and rapid pursuit, they 
could offer no sufllcient opposition to an advance of the Union 
Army as far southward as they chose to march. 

Pressing forward in pursuit, General Rosecrans despatched 
Grant at Bolivar, stating the condition of affairs and urging 
that supplies should be pushed forward to overtake him. 
The Confederates passed through Holly vSprings and crossed 
the Tallahatchie, offering no opposition to their vigorous 
pursuers. While in the full tide of success, sweeping on toward 
the Yalobusha River, Rosecrans was halted by a peremptory 
order from Grant to return to Corinth. The order was obeved, 



17 

but not without protest by the general, whose blood was up, 
and as a consequence, in Grant's report of the engagement, 
he passed by the battle of Corinth with a single clause, devot- 
ing the iHost extravagant praise to the troops engaged in the 
skirmish at Hatchie Bridge, and at the same time telegraphing 
to Halleck to. have a favorite brigadier appointed major- 
general before the reports of the battle of Corinth should 
reach Washington. A coolness naturally sprang up between 
the two major-generals, which increased as time went on, 
enhanced probably by the reports brought to each by gossiping 
staff-ofificers, anxious to curry favor with their several chiefs. 

But if a clause in an official report was deemed sufficient 
by the department commander in which to describe the severe 
and hotly-contested battle of Corinth, the people demanded 
a further account, and the country again rang with the praises 
of General Rosecrans. 

In the War Department his star was rapidly rising to its 
zenith. A commander was required to relieve Gen. Don Carlos 
Buell in command of the Army of the Cumberland, and Rose- 
crans was selected. 

He assumed command of that army on the 27th of October, 
and almost his first act was to antagonize ithe War Department. 

Halleck insisted that he should countermarch his army 
from the vicinity of Bowling Green, where Buell had left it, 
to Cumberland Gap, in pursuit of Bragg, who had retreated 
into East Tennessee, and was at that moment on his way 
around to Murfreesboro, within thirty miles of the advance 
of the Union Army. 

The occupation of East Tennessee had from the first been 
an object dear to the heart of President Lincoln. General 
Buell had been relieved of the command for persistently 
refusing to follow Bragg (barefoot and hungry, for he had no 



i8 

adequate transportation for such a movement), and when 
Rosecrans declined to move into Kast Tennessee, as he said, 
to meet an enemy who was moving as rapidly as possible to 
meet him, the President reciuested Halleck to designate a 
successor to Rosecrans. General Rosecrans replied to General 
Halleck's note informing him of this in his usual manly, 
straightforward fashion : 

"My appointment to the conunand having been made with- 
out any solicitation from me or my friends, if the President 
continues to have confidence in the propriety of the selection, 
he must permit me to use my judgment and be responsible 
for the results; but if he entertains doubts, he ought at once 
to appoint a commander in whom he can confide, for the good 
of the service, and of the country." 

The new commander now bent every effort to the thorough 
organization of the different departments of his army. It had 
been well drilled and disciplined by his predecessor, and was in 
good fighting trim. He organized a topographical bureau and 
an inspector-general's department; divided the army into three 
grand divisions, the right wing under command of Maj.-Gen. 
A. McD. McCook, the left wing commanded by Maj.-Gen. 
Thomas L. Crittenden, and the center under Maj.-Gen. George 
H. Thomas. 

General Bragg had advanced as far as Murfreesboro in Nov- 
ember and formed his army across the Chattanooga road, as if 
to dispute any further advance of the Army of the Cumberland. 
The gage of combat was accepted as soon as the completion of 
the Louisville and Nashville Railroad warranted an advance by 
giving promise of abundant supplies, and the battle of Stones 
River was the result. The space given to this article will not 
admit of a description of this desperately fought engagement. 
For three days victory coquetted with each side before perching 



19 

upon the Union banners. Bragg retreated sullenly from the 
field, and made his first halt at Tullahoma and Shelby ville, 
where he erected a Hue of works absolutely impregnable to 
direct assault. A delay incomprehensible to the civilians who 
had charge of the War Department, but easily accounted for by 
mihtary students of the campaigns of the Civil War, followed the 
first victory over the Confederate forces. The army moved, 
however, when the commander willed, and not in the direction 
which the enemy expected. As he lay at Tullahoma and 
Shelbyville, Bragg's right was protected, as he supposed, by 
rugged mountains, through which there were few roads, and 
none of them favorable for artillery; his left was advanced so 
as to compel a wide detour to enable the Union Army to reach 
the railroad in his rear. The country around the left was more 
open and intersected by good roads. To the surprise of all, 
General Rosecrans selected the former route for the excellent 
reason that he was not expected to do it. A quick dash through 
Hoover's Gap by Wilder's incomparable brigade of mounted 
infantry opened the way for the center. Further to the right 
through Guy's gap. General Stanley forced a passage and 
attacked Shelbyville with his cavalry, while Willich and Miller 
seized Liberty Gap, and covered McCook's flank. The left 
wing, by the most laborious march of all, moving clear around 
the enemy's right, threatened his rear, and communications 
with Chattanooga. There was no help for it — Bragg rr.ust go, 
and go quickly, which he did, and middle Tennessee was cap- 
tured without a battle, which must have been fought if, like less 
skilful generals, the commander of the Army of the Cumber- 
land had attacked in front, through an abatis, in mud up to the 
knees of the men. ' 'This is the grandest campaign of your life," 
exclaimed the usually imperturbable Thomas, as he seized the 
hand of General Rosecrans after his return from the pursuit of 
the enemy across Elk River. Still, it was lacking in the pyro- 



20 

technics of the battlefield, and was lost to view amid the smoke 
and carnage of Gettysburg and Vicksburg. 

A good deal of spicy correspondence had passed in the mean- 
time between General Rosecrans and vSecretary vStanton, in 
which the former had on one occasion expressed his regret that 
there was so little military knowledge at army headquarters in 
Washington. It may well be imagined that the peppery Secre- 
tary bided his time to strike a return blow which should crush 
his adversary. 

The opportunity came with Chickamauga, when the two 
enemies of Rosecrans, the one General of the Army, and the 
other Secretary of War, were all-powerful with the President. 

West Tennessee held by a division of troops, and middle 
Tennessee occupied by the Army of the Cumberland East 
Tennessee was evidently the next objective. To accompUsh its 
occupation, two expeditions were fitted out. The Army of the 
Ohio, under General Burnside, was directed to move eastward, 
across the Cumberland Mountains from Kentucky, to attack 
General Buckner at Knoxville, while Rosecrans moved against 
Bragg at Chattanooga. The Army of the Tennessee was lying 
idle at Vicksburg, and little knowledge of the situation was 
required at Washington to dictate the union of that army with 
the Army of the Cumberland. 

General Rosecrans' suggestions to this end, however, were, 
as usual, unheeded, and against his judgment he obeyed the 
peremptory order to move upon Chattanooga. Meantime, 
General Bragg had determined to concentrate all his force upon 
Rosecrans, knowing that the destruction of his army would 
open the way for his unimjx'ded march upcMi the northern 
States. To this end he recalled Buckner, who evacuated 
East Tennessee, leaving Burnside an unmolested passage to 
Knoxville; solicited and obtained a corps from the Anny of 
Northern Virginia under General Longstreet, and prepared 



to meet his old antagonist with an overwhehning force. The 
movement upon Chattanooga in all that goes to makeabrilhant 
strategical march, must forever stand without a parallel in 
the War of the Rebellion. 

To attack Chattanooga direct, with a navigable river in its 
front, was madness; to flank it was well nigh impossible. 
Between Rosecrans' right and Bragg's left were two ranges 
of mountains, impassable except by long and toilsome marches, 
which would carry the Union Army so far southward as to 
endanger his communications with Nashville. The busy brain 
of the commander had perfected his plans, however, and they 
were carried out by his skilful subordinates without a balk in 
the arrangements, until the enemy, taking the alarm, had 
evacuated Chattanooga, and marched southward to Lafayette, 
beyond his extreme right. 

The movement of the army with its artillery and supply 
trains, over Raccoon and Lookout mountains, will always remain 
a monument to the boldness of the commander and to the endur- 
ance and discipline of his magnificent army. Artillery and 
wagons were dragged for miles up almost inaccessible cHffs 
by hand, over roads constructed by the Pioneer Corps, and 
then lowered into the valleys. On the loth of September 
the left wing of the army — the 21st Army Corps — under com- 
mand of General Crittenden, marched around the nose of 
lyookout Mountain into Chattanooga. Rapidly concentrating 
his army in the Chickamauga Valley, the battle was fought 
without support of any kind either from Burnside or Sherman — 
both lying within supporting distance when the movement 
began — and Chattanooga was won. 

Common gratitude would have dictated a glowing general 
order from army headquarters thanking the army and its 
noble commander for the successful termination of so glorious 
a campaign. 



A telegram from the Assistant vSecretary of War, who was 
present at the battle and witnessed every movement from the 
beginning to the end, would have set the country wild with 
the praises of General Rosecrans. He might truthfully have 
telegraphed as follows: "General Rosecrans has fought a ter- 
rible battle in rear of Chattanooga. He has been compelled 
to withdraw from the field, but Chattanooga is ours." Instead 
of which, rushing in wild affright from the field with the first 
fugitives, he telegraphed the defeat of the army. 

The occasion had come, and the downfall of Rosecrans, long 
decreed in the War Department, was near at hand. He was 
permitted to remain in command a few weeks, long enough 
to set in motion the plan subsequently carried out by his 
illustrious successor, to capture Moccasin Point, and thus open 
communication with his supply depot at Bridgeport, when he 
was removed from command of the army he had thrice led to 
victory. 

He received the order reUeving him without a murmur. He 
knew that history would vindicate him, and condemn his 
enemies. More than all, he felt that consciousness of duty 
well done, that goes far to assuage the deepest wounds to pride. 

The war is ended, and the Union, purer and stronger by the 
baptism of blood through which it has passed, better for all 
work which the great Ruler of Nations has for it to accomplish, 
stands to-day the peer of any upon earth. 

Among the names of great and successful soldiers, to whose 
skill in planning and executing great campaigns, to whose 
courage and constancy under the most trying circumstances, 
and to whose unswerving loyalty to the general Government 
we, as a people, are indebted for this glorious consummation, none 
will, as time goes on, outshine in the history of the War of the 
Rebellion that of William Starke Rosecrans. 



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